Why Do You Always Have Vegetables in Your Lunch?

That's what a kid at school asked my son the other day. He answered "Cause I like them!"

Then, after practicing at home, he went up the little heckler the next day, looked him in the eye, and said "From now on, don't say anything about my lunch."

It worked. But, still. So far this year, my kids have been teased for vegetables, avocado on a sandwich, cheese (!), salad and even yogurt. They don't really seem to care that much. But isn't it amazing that our little kids are so convinced that real food is weird when brightly colored, nutritionally-depleted, chemical-tasting food is normal.

It's just something to think about.

Berry Picking with Kids

Day before yesterday, my family did one of our favorite activities. We went to "The Farm." That's what we call Berry Patch Farms in Brighton, Colorado, a you-pick place with strawberries, raspberries and all kinds of vegetables. It's the kind of place where there really is a red barn, roasters crow and they take you out to the berry picking patch on a tractor pulled wagon traveling through fields of broccoli, spinach, squash and sunflowers. It's so idyllic that I always feel like I am exaggerating when I describe it.

When we are there together, the world makes sense. Even my six-year-old can feel it--in fact I think she, especially, feels it. And I am trying to put my finger on why. Here's what I do know: Picking food is an instinctively satisfying experience, something humans are meant to do, but few Americans have the opportunity to do. And working together as a family to get food for the winter allows the children to participate in an adult activity, rather than common modern construct of adults participating in children's activities. Last, there is the insanely wonderful, incredibly flavorful food. But as dramatic as I am being...the sum is still more than the exact parts that I can list.

All I can say is: yeah for berry picking!

And, by the way, yesterday I packed fresh raspberries and tiny fresh carrots from the farm in the kid's lunches. Nobody teased them--and when I asked my son about them, his eyes got big and he just said "Oh, man, they tasted great!"

Healthy Packed Lunches and Teasing in the Lunchroom

Today was the first day of school for my kids. I cried. I always cry the first day they go back. But this year, I didn't cry in front of them. They were nervous and excited--but they didn't cry because they, unlike their mom, are very grown-up.

So, early this morning, I snipped the tags off the new lunch boxes and peered inside. Empty. Could fill them with something that showed the kids how much I love them...something that says I'm thinking of them when they aren't here? Could I make this lunch stand in for me since I can't be there? Hum, I'd need a curly haired, somewhat neurotic lunch with a tendency toward disorganization. Nothing in the kitchen, besides myself, would work. And I can't fit into the lunch box, even if I use the secret-hidden-zipper that expands the lunch box to almost suitcase size.

I had to settle for packing a healthy lunch instead. But healthy isn't good enough either- the lunch must also not invite teasing from fellow students. Last year, some kids teased my son for having hummus. He said the teasers were eating junk food and he briefly considered telling them about the trans fat and piles of sugar they were eating. But, in the end, he just shrugged, told them they were "stupid," and went back to eating his hummus. Apparently, calling them "stupid" worked, as it so often does, and that was the end of it. Even though I usually discourage name calling, I was glad he stood up for himself--and his healthy lunch.

But this year, he's more self-conscious and he's going to a new school. And my daughter definitely cares if other's make fun of her for anything at all, lunch included. Of course, all kids have to learn to ignore other people's opinions sometimes and find ways to handle teasing. But I hate the think that the lunches I pack would cause them to suffer in any way.

And so I packed crackers (whole-wheat), cheese (2% cheddar), squares of turkey meat, some grapes and some orange pepper sticks (the most risky addition). I added a few kalamata olives for a treat--they're small and I think the kids can eat them without attracting unwelcome attention. After the first few weeks of school go by, and the kids have more friends at their new school, I'll talk to them about adding some of their favorite "strange" items, like salmon salad or smoothie ice cream. Who knows? Maybe we'll even go for hummus again...

Yogurts with Fiber...Watch out!

The other day my kids and I had smoothies while staying with relatives. Later in the day, we were all in terrible pain with horrible stomach aches. I asked if I could peek at the yogurt she'd used in the smoothie. And, sure enough, it was Stonyfield Farms brand yogurt.

About a year ago, my whole family started suffering from terrible tummy aches several days a week. I couldn't figure out what was happening. We weren't sick or eating any strange foods. It didn't occur to me that yogurt could cause these problems--yogurt is good for tummy aches, after all. But, one day we happened to have nothing but big bowls of yogurt for a snack and were in pain a couple hours later. So, I checked the label and saw, to my surprise, that the yogurt contained fiber.

So, I called the Stonyfield Farms consumer info line. The fiber in their yogurt comes from something called "inulin" which is listed on the ingredients list. It's made from chicory root fibers and is added for the fiber, and fiber increases calcium absorption among other healthy benefits. The inulin is also a "prebiotic" food for the yogurt cultures, though it's very possible to make yogurt with non-fibrous prebiotics. The person I talked to wouldn't comment on the stomach-ache issue.

But Stonyfield is not alone. Other brands are jumping on the fiber bandwagon. For example, Horizon brand organic yogurt contains something called "NutraFlora®" which also seems to cause tummy aches in kids. It's benefits are similar to the inulin, but I couldn't find out what it's made out of...that's proprietary!

I get that most people need more fiber in their diets. But, I'd bet that most people who eat organic nonfat yogurts are the types of healthy-conscious people who get plenty of fiber from fruits, veggies, whole grains and nuts. These artificial fiber additions to yogurt are totally unnecessary for a healthy diet!

Of course, these fibrous yogurts may not bother everyone. But, if you or your family members are suffering from mysterious stomach aches... take a look at your yogurt.

Healthy Snow Cones!

While on vacation, my always-on-top-of-the-trends niece brought her snow-cone maker. Turns out, snow cones are all the rage this summer for the older elementary set.

Needless to say, my kids were smitten with the icy concoctions. So, after we got home, we bought ourselves a $15 snow cone maker. Standing there in Target, the kids and I had visions all the snow cones we'd make. We'd impress their friends. We'd cool ourselves after bike rides in the summer sun. We'd use all the ice that our lame ice maker could generate. But then we turned to the syrup selection and our happy imaginings came to an abrupt halt.

I could not buy the brightly colored, artificially flavored corn-syrup called "Snow Cone Syrup."

"Kids," I told them, "We'll invent our our syrup. It won't be easy-- it will involve a lot of ice, a dose of creativity and the courage to taste."

They nodded. And we set to work. Here are the results of weeks of study:

• Orange juice: Not too good. Too bland and the pulp gets caught on the ice. Plus, the color is unappealing.
• Fresh squeezed lemon or lime with honey: Delicious, but too much work. The bottles lemon and lime juice tasted funny.
  
• Olive juice: I refused to taste this one. The kids claim it was good, but then again they didn't actually eat much of it between hysterical bouts of laughter.
• Juicy juice: So-so, but not very great.
• Limeade concentrate, melted: Really good, but not very healthy. (Though better than the Snow Cone syrup.)
• And finally, the winner: 100% fruit juice concentrate, melted: Fantastically good! We used cranberry-raspberry juice blend. But there's lots of flavors. You can keep the can of concentrate in the frig, ready to go. The juice plus the ice is basically the equivalent of a cup of juice. Not as healthy as a piece of real fruit of course, but still fairly healthy.

Hurray for snow cones.

Camping Food Compromises

We are, quite possibly, the only family in Colorado who goes camping in a sedan. We balance a bike rack filled with 4 bikes on the back with another bike perched on top next to the rocket top. The kids have sleeping bags packed all around their feet and stuffed animals piled between them. The trunk is completely filled with food, of course. When we get out at rest stops I always wonder if the whole car might tip backwards, like a stroller with too many shopping bags hanging from the handlebars. When we go up mountain passes, we are the slowest vehicle in the slow lane at around 6 miles per hour, holding up even giant campers and loaded tractor trailers.

But we do eventually get there and start camping.

Camping, it seems, is considered a vacation. A vacation full of grime, extra work to accomplish the most basic tasks (such as washing dishes) and difficulty sleeping, but still a vacation. And I know many people subscribe to the idea that you should eat anything on vacation. I don't. I think you should eat anything that you really like on vacation. So, for me, marshmallows are in, as are s'mores. Fruit roll-ups, out. Hot chocolate, in. Sugary granola bars, out. Salt and vinegar chips, in. Boxed mac n' cheese and spaghetti-Os, definitely out. It sounds like an obvious point--but it's easy to overlook: don't eat junk food you don't love, even while camping.

That brings up the question: what can you eat while camping, besides junk food? Dehydrated food packets? No kid will eat those. And grown-ups only eat them so they can feel hard-core. They taste terrible. Gourmet fresh foods sauteed in your portable outdoor kitchen complete with spice rack and wine cooler? Not if you are traveling in a sedan. No, I go with easy to pack, easy to cook foods:

• Kashi brand granola bars
• Beef jerky (I get the kind w/out nitrates.)
• Turkey jerky (Hey, that rhymes!)
• Packets of instant grits
• Packets of instant unflavored oatmeal, with a bit of sugar on top
  
• Barbara's Bakery Saltine-style crackers
• 2% cheese sticks or string cheese
• Little containers of unsweetened applesauce, pineapple bits, or fruit cocktail
  
• Hebrew brand Low fat hot dogs (These do contain nitrates...it's a compromise.)
• Whole grain hot dog buns
• Unsweetened dried fruit
• 100% fruit chews
• 100% fruit juice boxes
• Apples
• Canned lower-sodium soup (Open the tops half way and set the whole can on the grill until hot.)
• Whole grain pasta, sauce and Parmesan cheese
• Baby carrots, pepper slices, cucumber slices and celery sticks
• Trail mix made with whole grain cereal

Pop Tarts versus Granola Bars.

Recently, there has been a great deal of press coverage regarding Kellogg's commendable decision to stop marketing their least nutritious offerings to children. Under the company's self-imposed new guidelines, one of the products that will either have to be advertised to adults only or be reformulated is the classic Pop Tart. The guidelines specify that only products with 12 grams or less sugar, per serving, be marketed to children.

That's very good news.

But, most moms and dads already knew that Pop Tarts aren't healthy. Kellogg has always had the decency to be reasonable honest in it's marketing. The message always was that this is junk food for breakfast...enjoy!

What makes me mad is "stHealthy" junk food. Empty foods cleverly marketed, disguised as healthy foods.

Today, as I heaved my overfull buggie through King Sooper , I passed the Pop Tarts and pondered their future. Seconds later I pulled up at the granola bars. I picked up a box of Barbara's Bakery Nature's Choice Apple Cinnamon Cereal Bars and looked at the label. 14 grams of sugar and 1 gram of fiber. Wow! That wouldn't pass Kellogg's new test. I looked at box after box of granola bars. With the exception of the Kashi brand bars, I couldn't find any that would pass the test. Few had more than a gram or two of fiber. And several even contained partially hydrogenated oils.

The granola bars were really no better than the Pop Tarts. The only nutritional difference I could find was that the Pop Tarts contained some artificial colors and other additives. Still, granola bars aren't under attack.

Could that be because of clever granola bar marketing?